Is the Canadian Banking System Really ¡°Stronger¡± than the U.S. One?

Christian Calm¨¨s () and Raymond Th¨¦oret
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Christian Calm¨¨s: D¨¦partement des sciences administratives, Universit¨¦ du Qu¨¦bec en Outaouais; Chaire d¡¯information financi¨¨re et organisationnelle (UQAM),Canada
Raymond Th¨¦oret: D¨¦partement de finance, Universit¨¦ du Qu¨¦bec ¨¤ Montr¨¦al, ¨¦cole des sciences de la gestion; Chaire d¡¯information financi¨¨re et organisationnelle (UQAM),Canada
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Christian Calmès ()

Review of Economics & Finance, 2013, vol. 3, 1-18

Abstract: The Canadian banking system is considered one of the ¡°best¡± in the world (Bordo et al., 2011). To examine this issue, this paper compares the risk-return trade-off of Canadian and U.S. banks in the context of market-based banking. It is found that non-interest income is actually more volatile in Canada, essentially because Canadian banks are more involved in trading and capital markets business lines than their U.S. peers. Even though U.S. banks are more exposed to securitization, which contributes to increasing bank risk (Calomiris and Mason, 2004), the analysis here does not conclude that the Canadian banking system is performing significantly better. On one hand, Canadian banks do better in downturns; on the other hand however, depending on the statistics, U.S. banks tend to benefit more from the transition to market-based banking.

Keywords: Bank performance; Market-oriented banking; Securitization; Non-interest income; Financial stability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C32 G20 G21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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